Orange Haze
by FluffleNeCharka
Summary: Raz sees something weird in Gloria's mind, and a week later is accused of driving Lili insane. Will he be able to clear his name... or did he really do it? [RazLili] FINISHED
1. Door opened

Its eyes were bright orange.

That was what had drawn Raz into the depths of Gloria's mind. Exploring the catwalks, trying to find that last pesky figment he'd missed, he'd seen the thing. A muse of Gloria's, Raz thought immeadiately. But his instincts told him otherwise. And when you're psychic, instincts are meant to be followed. Something in Raz's mind told him that the strange thing he'd seen wasn't supposed to be there. It had no shape or even solid outline. All it was, was orange eyes and grey-ish… something. It moved too fast for its body shape to be identified. Raz chased it all around the catwalks, but it was always just out of reach, hiding, staring at him from above or below, its breathing loud and suffocated, its huge orange eyes with black specks for pupils watching him anxiously as its clawed hands clinked upon the metal bars. It didn't seem hostile. But at the same time, it seemed to Raz to be dangerous. So Raz chased it until he'd fallen four times and was beginning to get dizzy. Finally, he exited Gloria's mind into the Collective Unconscious.

He didn't bother shutting the door to Gloria's mind. Sasha had given him a lecture about that once, that it could be dangerous. Raz didn't see how. If he couldn't take items from one mind to another, then how could anything transfer _itself_ from one mind to another? Besides, even the worst nightmares couldn't exit someone's mind. Raz had seen one of Milla's try when it found the doorway. Nothing bad could ever happen from leaving a door open. The only bad thing in Gloria's mind was the Phantom, and he was gone anyway.

Life seemed to go back to normal for a brief moment. When he reventured into Gloria's mind, there was no sign of the creature. All was peaceful, so he dismissed it as one of those weird feelings psychics just get for no reason. Raz went around, doing normal circus stuff for a week – performing, talking, trying to talk the other performers into letting him try beer now that he was 12 – when Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello appeared.

Sasha did _not_ look happy. That much was clear by the way Milla kept placing her hand on his shoulder and whispering, "Darling, he didn't know, it's not his fault." Sasha was wearing a black trenchcoat that day, with golden buttons. Raz remembered that because that was the last outfit he saw Sasha in before _it_ happened. Milla was dressed in a dark pink dress that came to her knees, with orange dots on it. Raz remembered that because the color orange made him shudder. The two older Agents stared at him for a moment. Sasha's stare was angry. Milla's was confused, maybe sympathetic.

Finally Edik, Raz's dad, stepped forward and asked, "What is it? What do you want with my son?"

Sasha replied coldly, "My apologies, but we must hereby place Razputin Zaberial Aquato under arrest for charges of treason, terrorism, and driving one Lili Zanotto insane."

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I'm not updating 'til I get 3 reviews. They don't have to be long or informative or anything- I just want some support.

This WILL be a Lili/Raz fic, but it'll take about 10 chapters to get there.

That's all I can say.


	2. Evidence

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The entire Circus was quiet.

Then Edik cried out, "My son did nothing of the sort! He's been here the whole time. Razputin's a good kid-"

Sasha held up a hand. "If you do not release him to us, we will take him by force and you will be arrested as well."

"Darling," Milla said softly, "I'm sure this is all a mix-up. But we can't get it cleared up if we have to add fleeing the scene to his charges, because then he really would be a criminal no matter what."

Edik looked at Raz, then at the two of them. "Let me talk to him for a moment."

Sasha shook his head and told him coldly it was not allowed, then advanced toward Raz, who was shaking slightly. A little focus on Sasha's part, and glowing, electric blue handcuffs attached themselves to Raz's hands, which were suddenly pinned behind his back. A similar device was now locking his knees in position. Milla carefully used telekinesis to place a helmet on his head like the one Dr. Loboto had put on Lili. Raz was then painfully aware of all the eyes of the Circus people on him as he was floated quickly via TK into the jet. This couldn't be happening! This _wasn't_ happening. Forget treason and terrorism. Lili was his soulmate. He would never have done anything to hurt her, ever. He'd rather face a thousand death tanks. How could anyone ever believe, ever even _consider_… Raz took a deep breath.

Then suddenly he heard it. A second set of breathing, ragged and suffocated, taking one breath for every four of his own. As soon as he gasped in shock, however, it stopped suddenly. Feeling sick to his stomach, he was barely aware of Milla telekinetically pushing him into a cage-like holding area of some sort. Then he looked over at her. She gave him a look that stated clearly she didn't believe for a damm second he'd done it. And he could breathe again. Because someone had some faith in him. Milla had been kind to him and everyone else at camp; surely she'd get him out of this.

"Don't look at him," Sasha scolded darkly. "We have orders to follow, Agent Vodello." Milla sighed and went to join him where he sat in the cockpit. Putting the plane on autopilot, he said to Raz without looking at him, "Razputin, you are hereby stripped of your rank as a member of the Psychonauts. If you are found innocent, your rank will be restored. If not, you will be dismissed without honors or medals of any kind. Also, if you do not forfeit the mental doorway you stole from my lab, I will be forced to add theft of Psychonauts property to your charges."

Raz sighed. "It's in my backpack. Sasha, what's going on here?"

Sasha ignored him and pulled the portal out of Raz's backpack with his mind. Sasha wasn't being cruel; it was orders. And he had to obey them, lest he go to jail too and not be able to help Raz out in any way. Also, it pained him to know that twelve feet behind him sat the very child he'd put so much faith in, arrested and going to be tried for driving someone insane. It went against all logic. So all Sasha could do was hunch forward and pray. Milla started tapping her foot, and stole nervous glances at Raz. She was at her wits end as well. Anxiously she wrapped her arms around herself.

Finally she turned around and asked, "Darling, did you do it?"

"No!" Raz replied truthfully. "I haven't even been **_IN_** the Mental World in a week! I promise!"

"Then," Sasha said softly, in a tone of voice he'd never used before, "Let us hope you can reverse the effects upon young Miss Zanotto's mind."

"Come again?" Raz asked, arching an eyebrow.

"You see," Milla told him nervously, "If you can get into Lili's mind and make her sane again, we can drop the charges." Milla turned around in her seat and started raking her hands through her hair nervously. "I'm sorry, but if I said anymore, I'd be hurting more than helping, darling."

Raz felt sick to his stomach. Later, he found out it was only a five hour flight. At the time, it seemed to go on forever, like some endless hell from which there was no escape. He kept thinking that this was just some awful nightmare, that any moment now he'd wake up and this would be a dream. It couldn't be real. Nothing this awful happened in real life. He'd heard that his life would flash before his eyes when he died. No. Instead, it flashed before his eyes as it was being ruined. The first time he'd seen Lili, the events at the asylum, the way Lili smiled at him, the mission to save her father… everything.

Raz stared at Milla and Sasha. How could they do this to him? Surely they knew he'd never hurt anyone just for the heck of it! This couldn't be happening…

Yet it was.

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Raz stared out his window in fascination. It wasn't possible. It couldn't even begin to register in his dream- was this a dream?

"Sasha, is that-?"

"Thornley Towers Home for the Disturbed, back from it's fiery grave," Sasha replied solemnly. "Miss Zanotto is somewhere inside."

Milla turned around and said uncertainly, "Darling, we can't communicate with her. She kept screaming your name over the telepathic airwaves. So this is where we're dropping you off."

The shackles that held Raz down disappeared, and the helmet fell off. Raz rubbed his head tenderly, noting how it was night out now and it all seemed to look just like when he saved Lili two years ago. Sasha handed him something via TK. It was a small mental door, pure white in color, and made out of plastic. Raz stowed it away in his head for future use.

"That is a one way pass into Miss Zanotto's mind," Sasha informed him. "After one use, it will be broken. At that time, it will give off an alarm at HQ that will tell us to pick you up. If you've succeeded, your name will be cleared. If not, I personally suggest you head for the hills. Also, do not throw it away and just leave. It will also generate an alarmed when it leaves your hand but is not in physical use or else touches the ground for more than sixty seconds."

Raz nodded numbly and stared at the ground, looking sick.

"Oh," Milla said gently, "And we'll also need your backpack and every item you have. I'm sorry, darling, but it's the rules."

Raz's head glowed for a second, and out came a list of very incriminating things. A pair of scissors that had a little dried blood on them, a jet black psycho portal with orange spots on it, and a orange orb of some kind that had been glowing previously, but stopped once it left Raz's head. A yard flamingo, Raz's old clothes, the cobweb duster, and everything he'd acquired at Whispering Rock came tumbling out.

Sasha looked at the scissors, psycho portal, and orb. He gave Raz an unreadable look, then went back to piloting. Milla stared at Raz, but managed to smile.

"Well, darling," Milla whispered, "Good luck. I trust you can levitate down?"

He nodded, and, as he approached the opened door to jump, turned and hugged her. Milla patted him on the back and wished him good luck before he jumped out of the plane and onward to the hell that was Thornley Towers Home for the Disturbed.

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I got this idea after watching the National Geographic Channel's one hour special on Atlantis. Isn't that funky?

Anyway, three more reviews and I'll update. I love you people… you're the only people who care about me (besides my mom).


	3. Mergence

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Raz felt an awful weight settling around his shoulders even as he floated down unto the ground. Glancing up, he noted his levitation ball was very dark now, hardly giving out any light. At that moment, somewhere in the back of his mind, a doubt sounded. _Could I have done it?_ But no, his rational mind screamed, it was impossible. If it had been anyone else who had been driven insane, he wouldn't have thought so. He'd read about insane Psychonauts before, and the affects of psitanium. But it wasn't anyone else- it was Lili. Lillianna Marie Zanotto, the girl who could kick ass, look cute, and win his heart without even trying. So there had to be a mix up.

It was eerie and surreal stepping on the hollowed grounds of Thornley Towers Home for the Disturbed. It had been blown up! Raz had _seen_ this place go up in flames and crumble down. But now it was almost totally the same. Boyd no longer guarded the gates, the crows were nowhere to be seen, the courtyard of the asylum lacked any brains-in-a-jar or debris, and where Gloria's pots with smiley faces had once been, there was nothing. Raz shuddered. He wished the crows were here. It was so quiet, so absolutely silent. It was unnatural. The elevator wasn't working, so Raz had to walk/levitate up to the top. Everything was twisted into exactly how it had been before the explosion. The rats were gone. Everything seemed deserted.

Then Raz saw it: A G-man from Boyd's mind, holding a telephone and playing air guitar as it walked down the hall, blue skin shiny and red eyes glowing. "I work on the phone lines. I could listen into any phone conversation I want, but do not, owing to my sense of professional duty." It wasn't possible for it to exist outside the Mental World. But it was still prancing in front of him. Raz froze. It was only there for a few seconds before fading into thin air. Raz took a deep breath and then continued along his way. _Keep calm_, he told himself, _there's an explanation for all of this. It probably won't make any sense, but there IS an explanation for it._

As Raz approached the elevator to take him up to Loboto's old lab, he felt a curious sensation in his body. His heart rate slowed and his breathing was normal. He wasn't freaking out anymore. Or rather, he was, but in mind only. He couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet as he stepped out of the elevator. There was a thick grey fog hanging around the dome- how he wished he'd remembered his goggles. But with that unearthly calm that he couldn't understand, he stepped forward into the fog and descended silent as a ghost up the winding steps. Under any other circumstances, this either would've been really cool or really scary. Now his mind was focused on one thing: **_Lili_**.

Her voice was faint, as the fog muffled all sound, distorted it. She could have been across the empty room or right in front of him; he'd never know until he bumped into her. There was white light that seemed to come from within the fog itself swirling around the room. It made it look like morning. Carefully, Raz studied the room as he moved around. She was so close… where was she?

"Raz… help me, you jerk…" he almost laughed and cried at finally seeing her, hearing her attitude-laced voice. Her hair was down to her waist now, officially out of its pigtails. Her eyes were blank, the pupils rolled back. Hugging her knees to her chest, she sat on the floor, rocking herself slowly and quietly begging for help. Raz had never been emotional, but the sight just about broke his heart. She was wearing a black sweater with a Pikachu printed on the front, and dark red-blue checkered pants. Her gloves were absent, and she was covered in what smelled like volcanic ash. "Raz…"

"Lili!" he yelled, shaking her. "Lili, it's me! I'm here!"

She fell limply against him, muttering, "No, no, never really here, you'll be gone soon, no, no, never ever ever."

Raz felt ready to have an emotional breakdown, but instead he took out the psycho portal he'd gotten from Sasha. Placing a gentle kiss on her forehead first, he put the door in place, and entered her mind. Without his goggles, his eyes simply glowed for a moment before his astral projection flew into her head. His physical body collapsed on top of hers, and the world's two youngest Psychonauts lay unconscious on the ground. The mist made everything look pale. Had it not been for the subtle rise and fall of their chests, they could've been dead.

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Lili's mind was very… wrong.

It had been tampered with somehow, fused into Gloria's mind. Half of the area was Lili's: Pink skies, black ground, and lots of stairways/doors leading to the hidden area of her mind. (Because her father was the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, she'd learned how to guard her mind carefully.) Most of these stairways weren't connected to the ground, or floated in midair. A few teddy bears and black guitars hovered around, giving the place a pleasant, creepy, totally Lili feel to it.

The half that wasn't Lili's was part of the catwalks from Gloria's mind, crudely merged onto some of the stairways in Lili's mind. The sky seemed to vanish once the catwalks started, and there were censors running amuck everywhere. The bigger ones from Gloria's mind were fighting off the hordes off mini-censors that were whaling on them. A few nightmares on Lili's side had opened up holes in the ground and their skinny arms flailed madly as they screamed in pain.

Raz wasn't sure where to begin. One of the doors, fighting the censors, battling the nightmares, checking out the doors that connected Lili and Gloria's minds, looking into Gloria's min altogether – it seemed there was no way to decide. Everything was in such utter chaos there was no way of telling which one was more important. The nightmare holes were tripling in number even as he watched; the censors were pouring out of both minds seemingly without end.

Then Raz saw it again. Two huge, elongated orange eyes, the small pupils vibrating as they stared at him. Suffocated breathing sounded, along with the smell of rot. The creature was shaking, standing hunched on legs far too skinny and bony to support its body. It's arms were thin and, had they not been folded over its chest, would've been about six feet long. Its skin was molted grey, scaly, and it's think body contrasted to its huge head that bobbed back and forth on a long, twisted neck. It had a long, thin tail with a huge sickle-like claw attached. As it stood there amongst the catwalks, it raised one clawed hand as if waving before it leapt up with surprising strength and vanished into the darkness. Raz stood rooted to the ground, nearly immobile, when it occurred to him for the first time that everything was that creature's fault.

Levitating to the catwalks, Raz began to chase the creature frantically. Its steps were loud and echoing, giving Raz a clear idea of where it was at all times. He shot psi-beams at it, and it just barely dodged as it flew, a flurry of long limbs and snarling, to avoid him. The blasts usually missed by about half an inch, even though Raz was focusing. But at the same time, the catwalks were becoming fractured, old, and rusted the deeper he ventured. Some places were slimy and Raz nearly died trying to keep on level footing. Occasionally a flash of a second creature would come into view, but he had to worry about the one he had within his sights first.

Finally, a shot hit.

The creature screamed and fell onto a platform, shivering violently. It clutched at itself, trembling, then began to change shape. The eyes became more human, the skin more of a sickish white-grey, and long black hair sprouted from the head of the creature. It became recognizably human, albeit long limbed and tall, with deeply angled, pure orange eyes that glowed. Black, skin tight clothing that looked like the body suits the Psychonauts had issued back in the 60's was the only clothing the creature-turned-boy wore besides thick orange gloves and boots.

Raz recognized him from somewhere… he paused to study the trembling boy in front of him. Why was this kid so familiar?

"Hello," the orange-eyed person drawled quietly. "I'm Zaberial Zanotto."

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Oooh, the suspense!

I woke up this morning, realized I had enough reviews that I should have updated, and wrote this entire chapter in a half hour.

Anyway, same as always, three reviews and I'll update. I'm trying to make the chapters longer, but it's hard. I honestly didn't think anyone would be interested in this fic. Tell me how I'm doing, people! I have misspellings and grammar issues everywhere, probably, but since this was written at four in the morning, bear with me!

I love you, my reviewers! You're like the army of Kamikaze bunnies I never had!


	4. Clouds of Zaberial

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Zaberial's voice was soft, with a definite Russian accent. His breathing was loud, and his eyes seemed to stare Raz down like he was memorizing what the Psychonaut looked like. Carefully, he stepped back and held up his hands in the universal 'I-don't-want-to-fight' gesture. His expression was scared, but his face had a friendly look to it.

"You're related to Lili?" Raz asked in disbelief. Zaberial's eyes were similar to Lili's, sure, but that was where all resemblance ended. Then a light switch flicked itself on in Raz's head. "Hey, your first name is my middle name…"

Zaberial blushed bright green suddenly and blurted out at lightning speed, "I didn't mean to it wasn't my fault I swear I never went into Mom- I mean, Lili's brain and I don't even have any mental powers so don't throw me in jail and I can explain everything and-"

He was cut off because a second creature had suddenly pounced on him. It could've been his twin, except it was a lot bigger, black in color, and had three eyes. With a snarl, it shoved Zaberial over the edge of the catwalks. A loud 'oh SHIT!' could be heard from the semi-human as he fell. Below, there was a sickening thud. The black, orange-eyed creature turned on Raz just in time to be hit with a ton of psi-beams. But instead of turning human, as Zaberial had, it just laughed deep in its throat and charged at him.

Raz's shield just barely kept the thing off of him. His heart was racing as he tried to figure out what had just happened. Then, he realized something that made him stop his shield in shock: Zaberial had called Lili 'Mom'. Unfortunately, before he could further ponder that thought, the black creature had picked him up in one sharp claw and chucked him through the air. Raz let a yelp before landing within the confines of Lili's mind. Except… now the censors were gone. And there were fluffy orange clouds everywhere that were solid enough to land on and stand in. They stood motionless, making them look unnatural.

Standing up in a cloud was just weird. It felt like there was nothing solid under his feet, which caused his body to panic even as his mind registered that everything was okay. Trembling, he noticed a sharp pain in his ribcage and looked down. The black creature's claws had cut three light, smoldering gashes into his side. Raz wished Sasha hadn't made him give up his Dream Fluff. He took a deep breath. Okay, so going back into Gloria's mind without a plan would be suicidal. That meant exploring Lili's mind was the only real option he had left. But where to start. The nightmare holes, the doors, the strange blue kangaroo type thing jumping around- wait, blue kangaroo?

Raz turned invisible and levitated down to where the blue kangaroo was jumping around in circles, screaming out words in Russian. (Raz would've bet money that they were swearwords.) When he tapped it on the shoulder and turned visible, the kangaroo smiled and bowed.

"Ah, you must be the exterminator," she – yes, it was a girl – said, tilting her head a little. "You are late, you know. Master Miss Lili's memories are running amuck. If they are not put back in her chamber– " here she pointed to a bright orange door that was upside down and attached to the ground. " – Then I fear for their survival. The memories are already growing weaker. And the nightmares! I've worked ever since that horrible accident of Master Miss Lili's in Moscow to keep them in check, and after the events in Mirmy, St. Petersburg, and Vutok, I thought I could handle anything, but they just broke loose! There's so many of them I never even knew existed! Oh Lord, how do I even DESCRIBE the way the lab damaged her doorways? They used to be in some kind of order Master Miss Lili understood, but they are all jumbled now! She won't be able to think if this continues!"

"Calm down," Raz told her firmly, placing a hand on her furry shoulder. "I'm her boyfriend and a Psychonaut. I'll help her no matter what. But where should I start?"

He was asking rhetorically, of course. That didn't stop the kangaroo from replying, "Her memories are most valuable to Master Miss Lili. If they are not put back, she may lose them. I've already put seven back, but there are four more running around her Nightmare Village."

Raz raised an eyebrow in shock, "Nightmare _Village_?" True, Milla had a nightmare room, but a whole settlement of nightmares was inconceivable, horrific. How could anyone manage their nightmares that well if there were so many? It shouldn't have been possible to **_have_** that many nightmares in the first place.

"It's through the orange and black door," the kangaroo told him and she turned clear and vanished. "Please, hurry!"

Then he was alone. He rubbed his eyes, then his temples. This could not be happening, he thought with a sigh. Then, trembling a little, he turned and opened the door to Lili's Nightmare Village.

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Dammit, people! You're giving me next to no time to write the chapters before you demand they be published!

-falls over- God, I'm exhausted. Two chapters in twelve hours… you guys better write happy reviews! I'm sorry this chapter is so short. I'm running out of ideas.


	5. Nightmare of Moscow

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Nightmare Village was just… screwed up, even by Psychonaut standards.

There were twisted, cylinder shaped buildings with black holes for windows in which the nightmares flourished. The ground and sky were both dark orangey-brown, with splotches of bright neon orange in the sky. Macaroni-like creatures that were the color of apricots swam by as if moving through water. Large purple nightmares, small grey ones, and orange ones with two heads walked by, seemingly undaunted by Raz's approach. They turned to stare at him as he passed, curious but not willing to come close. As he walked further into the Village, he saw that they were nursing their injured comrades with what looked kind of like Dream Fluff, except it was orange. Small nightmares barely four inches high squealed and chased each other to and fro while their mothers (presumably) chased after them. Raz was kind of freaked out. These nightmares had clearly been here for a very long time. They were smarter than the typical nightmares. What's more, they were thriving in the depths of Lili's mind. There had to be hundreds of them, Raz thought in terror. _Dear God, Milla only had like 5 or something…_ He noted the lack of figments, and found it odd that he had yet to see one in Lili's mind. Perhaps it was connected to the amount of nightmares she had. The insane people Raz had encountered before had many figments. The one thing he did notice, though, was that there was an apt supply of cobwebs. If only he'd had his duster – but Sasha had taken it away, so there was no way he could clean up Lili's mind at this point.

A dull thud caught his attention as Raz spotted a memory vault being chased by a horde of baby nightmares. Going invisible, he was quiet as a ghost as he approached the now cornered memory vault. Then he hit it, going visible and scaring off the little nightmares. Their mother hissed angrily at him as they picked up their children with their tiny arms and patted them on the back. The baby nightmares cried and pointed at him. Freaked out, Raz wondered if all nightmares had this semi-human behavior. It seemed… unnatural. On so many different levels. Trying to put those thoughts out of his mind, Raz pulled out the memory reel.

'Moscow Blues' its title read. Raz held it up to his eyes cautiously, and smiled.

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(Begin Flashback/Memory)

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"Liliya,1" a girl with dull blonde hair called out, waving an arm. Her dark brown eyes sparkled with laughter as she spoke with a thick Russian accent. "If you do not hurry, we will be late, duh?"

They were in a huge city, Moscow, he guessed. It was raining, and it was late evening. Lili, age 4, was meditating over a flower. Lili looked up and yelled something in Russian as she left the little flower growing out of the gutter and ran to join her friend. Whatever the remark was, it caused the other girl to laugh. Her voice was deep, and she threw her head back when she laughed. She looked to be about thirteen or so. Picking Lili up, she swung Lili around and threw her into the air.

"Rialia2," Lili screamed. "Put me down, you _naska!_" 3

Rialia grinned and slowly let Lili down via telekinesis, chuckling. Lili grabbed her hand and they started to walk home, talking rapidly in Russian. Occasionally they alternated to Italian, which Riala struggled with and Lili spoke fluently. Rialia checked over their shoulders and occasionally ordered Lili to hide for a few moments in a bush or something. Raz watched with a sense of wonder and the older psychic girl seemed to adjust their course based on precognition. Future-seeing psychics were very rare in Asia. Nine out of ten were from Europe.

"Your English is much improved," Rialia commented to Lili. "Do me favor, tell your papa that I have improved much as well, and since I'm a junior agent now, I'd like to leave Russia. You tell him that, please?"

Lili laughed. "Of course. You're my onii-chan."

Both Raz and Rialia raised an eyebrow at this, and the Russian girl groaned. "Oi! First you learn Italian, then Russian, and English, but Japanese? You hang too much with Agent Mimosa and Sasusi."

Their light conversation was cut short by a purple psi-blast that missed Lili by a hundredth of an inch. Rialia shoved Lili into a bush and then turned. Focusing, she shot at the sky and hit someone. Raz was surprised to see a much younger Sasha Nein collapse on the ground. Rialia ran over him and seized him with a telekinetic hand, holding him by his ribcage up in the air. Sasha, dressed in a black trenchcoat, grinned good-naturedly at her.

"It was just a test," he chuckled. "Truman sent me-" At this point Rialia laughed full heartedly and set him down. "It's good to see you've developed a sense of humor, Agent Vinyaal. Agent Vodello set me on fire last night for throwing a fake grenade through her window."

Sasha had a sense of humor, too, Raz thought with a smile as he watched Rialia nearly fall over laughing. Chuckling still, she linked arms with Sasha and called Lili over. People gave them weird looks as they walked by. The three made a broken conversation in Italian punctuated by Sasha and Rialia using an English word (or Russian, in Rialia's case) when the correct term failed them.

They entered a rundown part of town, at which point Rialia said her goodbyes. She hugged Lili and stood like that for a minute, which caused Lili to giggle madly at how silly she was being. Rialia then kissed Sasha once on both cheeks and hugged him. 4 When he blushed, she punched him on the shoulder and said, "Be a man. You can take bullet, you can take kiss!" Lili laughed and said something in Italian to Sasha that Raz would've bet money was a taunt.

Once Rialia left, Lili demanded that Agent Nein give her a piggyback ride. Raz burst out laughing as Agent Nein swore loudly in German and picked her up. Somewhere along the way home, Lili dosed off peacefully. She woke up as they entered a large building marked 'Psychonauts Moscow Division'. Her father, a tall man whom Lili inherited her haircolor from with small blue eyes, was there to carry her off to bed. Her mother, a slightly short woman who bore remarkable resemblance to Rialia except her eyes were light brown, smiled and sang Lili to sleep.

Outside Lili's bedroom door, her parents began to talk.

"You think it's wise to let her stay with your sister?" Truman asked.

His wife, Lydia, sighed dramatically and rubbed her forehead. "Rialia is a good girl, no matter what you think about Russian psychics. You know, sometimes I wonder why you married me if you have such issue with who I am."

"You're not like the rest of those bastards," Truman replied. "They're… evil. Rialia might not be, but we don't know for sure-"

"Bastards!" Lydia snapped. "Sasha was right, I can do better than you! We need to go to a therapist or I'll… I'll file for divorce!"

"So you're cheating on me with Nein?" Truman demanded. "That German son of a b-"

"NO!" Lydia spat at him. "You see, this is what I hate about you! I cannot see my friends, because they're Russian! I cannot see my American friends because they're 'pushy' to you. And now I cannot even try to find a friend in Sasha because he's German!"

"You shouldn't let Lili hang out with all these Russians and Germans and God knows who else! Culture aside, they're bad news and she's worthless enough as it is, Lydia. I knew I should've married a psychic!" At this point it had become clear by the slurring of his words he'd drunk some serious vodka.

"Just because Lili can't do what you can doesn't make her worthless! I say it's your upbringing that turned her bad, not mine. I take her out, I buy her nice things, but you just keep destroying her!" Lydia shrieked, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'm not even her real mother, for cryin' out loud! I demand a divorce!"

At this point, they heard Lili's soft sob from within her room. Opening the door, they just barely glimpsed her exiting via the window (they were on the first floor) and taking off like a bat out of hell. Lili was screaming and crying as she stumbled, barefoot, along the way to Rialia's house. She crashed into walls and lampposts, but she could care less. She was screaming in heartbreak. This could not be happening, no, not now! Everything was going so good, and now this! She screamed out in Italian, Russian, English, some bits of German she'd picked up from Sasha, even some Japanese, but nothing seemed to express her pain well enough. Finally she burst through the door of Rialia's broken down home.

A stranger scene there never was.

First off, the house was more of a one-room shack. Bugs were abundant on the floor, the one dim light bulb that lit the room flickering on the verge of going out. There was a small sink that dripped muddy water, and a small, cheaply made table that was rotted wood at this point. The bed was a mattress with a hand made, passed down quilt on it along with a balled up second set of clothes that probably served as a pillow. The smell of mold hung thickly in the air even though the tiny window was open.

Second of all, Sasha was sobbing quietly into Rialia's shoulder as the two sat on the bed. Rialia, who looked shocked, was rubbing his back and saying, "Nes yerr 5, my friend, we all must cry eventually. Is good." Sasha, who looked ashamed of himself, just murmured, "Arigato6," and tried to get himself under control. When they caught sight of Lili, mud stained, sobbing, and screaming out in Russian, Sasha asked, "What's wrong?" Rialia just smiled sadly and held out an arm. "Valsh maah, ni bri'et yon kall. 7. Is good." Lili took a flying leap and bombarded Rialia, sobbing into her other shoulder.

"Moscow sure brings out the despair in your souls, my friends," Rialia noted. "I hope you, at least, soon get to leave this place. Because I know I will probably not as long as Truman Zanotto remains Grand Head."

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End of Flashback/Memory

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Raz sat, stunned, reeling from what he had just seen. Stowing the memory reel in his mind, he grabbed the vault by its handle and numbly dragged it out of the nightmare village and back to it's proper door. He collapsed for a moment to try to comprehend what he'd seen. Sasha, crying. Lili's mom wasn't Lili's mom. Rialia, trying to comfort them while living in a hellhole. Lili, screaming in five different languages in pain. And the prejudice of Truman Zanotto… it was all so intense. To go through that, at that age… Yet Lili never let on that things like that had happened. She put up a strong front and moved on, smiling occasionally and still training to be a Psychonaut after what she'd heard. Raz felt an admiration and pride in her strength. All this time, he never knew. Lili was weird, but never traumatized or psychotic like one would expect after all that. And who knew Sasha could ever have a breakdown of any kind? It all seemed so unbelievable that now he really wished it were all a bad dream.

Sadly, however, it was not. And this was merely the beginning.

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1 Many foreigners will find that Russians like to ask 'ya', 'ni', 'skerr', or 'ski' to their names in order to make it both easier to pronounce, and more Russian sounding. In this case, Lili becomes Lili_ya_.

2 Rialia is pronounced Ree-all-yah.

3 Literally 'you jerk' in Modern Russian.

4 Rialia doesn't _like_ Sasha in that way; public displays of affection such as kissing, hugging, and holding hands are very common in some Moscow communities.

5 It's alright.

6 'Thank you' in Japanese.

7 I'm here for you, my sister.

Coolness! I'm so happy I wrote this… this fanfic may turn out to be REALLY long, though. I put some Modern Russian in to make it more appealing, but I probably screwed up the order of words. Oh well, I tried.

I know you guys said I could take a while, but I thought 'hey, I got three reviews, why not post this anyway?' So I did. Enjoy, and review my minions, review!


	6. Explanation

-------------------------------------------

Raz was almost nauseous at the thought of going back into Lili's Nightmare Village. It was just plain creepy, and he wasn't sure what kind of memories he'd find. He was almost afraid to think about it. But Lili's sanity was on the line here. So he just took a deep breath and went back in.

This time, a little baby nightmare started chasing Raz around, and when he picked it up, it screamed. He dropped it and ran, but it chased him still. Finally, it's mother picked it up and bowed to Raz, then promptly oozed off. He almost laughed at the disappointed expression on the little guy's face. It gave this angelic little look that said 'I didn't do it'! Raz was reminded of all the weird things he'd done as a little kid and chuckled. Aww, short little dude. Then he remembered it was a nightmare, scolded himself for thinking about it that way, and chased after a memory vault that a full-grown nightmare was holding onto. The vault was panicking and running around, trying to shake the nightmare, who – Raz _had_ to give the thing some credit – was just barely managing to hang on even as the vault rolled over on top of it and bucked wildly. Finally, the nightmare fell off and landed on Raz.

He could have screamed. The contact burned his skin, and the nightmare itself began to smoke as it screamed loudly. They broke apart, the nightmare shuddering and Raz barely able to think straight. Raz took off like a shoot to the memory vault, and the nightmare flew off in the opposite direction. For a moment Raz nearly forgot who he was. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward and punched the vault.

'Merdilazi Rialia na che(1)' was the title. Raz felt sick, but looked at it anyway, because it could help him help Lili.

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Begin the Flashback/Memory

-----------------------------------

"Yashnier,(2)" Rialia questioned Sasha as they crept, dressed in discreet colors, along the frozen ice of Lake Oblongata to get to Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed. "Why did we have to come here in winter? Is eerie! Makes Siberia look like Heaven."

Rialia was fifteen now, wearing a long black coat trimmed in fur. Her gloves were the thick Russian kind, designed to withstand below zero temperatures. A fur cap covered her head, in which she had cleverly tucked her light colored hair so it didn't draw attention from anyone watching. Sasha was limping slightly on his left leg, dressed in a coat nearly identical to Rialia's –he'd borrowed it from her – and his eyes, minus their oh-so-cool sunglasses because they obscured his vision when it was so dark, were pure black in color. Sasha looked like a ghost as he walked cautiously along the ice, carefully testing out each step. Behind them, Lili was wearing what appeared to be four or five layers of sweaters and was crawling on all fours behind them.

"Because Truman doesn't expect anyone to come here when it's 30 below, as most psychics have a low tolerence for such weather. However, you are Russian, I am not totally human, and Miss Zanotto is young enough to adapt. So we have to come here, now. It could be our only chance to see if my guess about Lili and Gloria's minds is correct."

"I still don't understand how **_I_** forged a connection between them," Rialia sighed. "But I think it has something to do with how I'm Lili's half sister and Gloria's daughter."

"It's a good theory," Sasha affirmed, "But we should be quiet now. And Miss Zanotto has the right idea – get down on all fours."

"What about you?" Lili asked quietly, sounding dead to the world.

"I'll go invisible."

They crept quietly across the lake, crunching the powdery snow sometimes, sliding radically at others. Rialia's hand slid through a place where the ice had thawed and refrozen once, which cut her, but she ignored it and moved on, crawling on one hand through the snow. Raz felt a deep respect for how she paused to hug Lili with her good arm. Lili's own parents may have been assholes, but at least Lili had some support from her sister. Sasha paused every few minutes to check on them as well.

They reached the island-like structure after a half hour. Rialia swayed when she stood up, then collapsed onto Sasha, who held her like a daughter.

"Ri, are you alright?" he asked, placing a hand on her forehead. "You've got a fever."

"Jutt tiu watsi(3)," she replied, and smiled. I've a got a fever because a hot German man has his hand on my butt."

Sasha let out a screech and pulled back from her, turning red and white and pink and stammering. Lili laughed along with Rialia, who had to lean against the rocky side wall for balance, she was laughing so hard. Tears flowed down her cheeks as Sasha's embarrassment turned to outrage.

"We are on a mission, Rialia Dimitrix Vinyala! Please-" he was cut off by Rialia wrapping an arm around his neck (bringing his head down by about ten inches because of the height difference).

She smiled and pointed at Lili. "Do you see what I see, yashnier?"

Quietly he whispered, "It's the first time she's laughed since Truman burned your house down and her parents divorced." Then he quickly kissed her on the cheek. "I don't know how the two of us would survive without you."

Rialia struggled up the ladder as Sasha carried Lili via levitation to the top. Boyd was nowhere to be seen, and the gates were open. Gloria was acting out a giant play, and decided to randomly point at Lili and say, "You have the makings of a star, one day!" Rialia used this insanity to encourage Lili gently that 'even insane people can see you're cool'. They carefully got into the elevator, flicking the switch for the top lab/dome. The whole place was pitch black, and Rialia held a small white ball of light out for them to see by. Carefully Sasha and Rialia investigated what would one day be a lab while the five year old Lili 'guarded the elevator'. The dome was coated in thick, glossy red stains that were similar to human blood, but not quite. Rialia exited when Sasha began using clairvoyance on the stuff. It wasn't stupid. It was smart. Sasha could work better when he had total silence. Lili quietly followed Rialia as the Russian girl padded catlike up the slanted dome to the top room.

For two or three seconds, Rialia was out of sight.

Then a scream of pure agony was heard, low pitched and clearly her voice.

Lili took off at maximum speed, yelling out, "SASHA! RIALIA!" Once she entered the room, she turned pale. Two huge, elongated orange eyes, the small pupils vibrating as they stared at Rialia's now dying body. Suffocated breathing sounded, along with the smell of rotted flesh. The creature was shaking, standing hunched on six legs far too skinny and bony to support its body. Its four arms were thin and were currently scraping boredly at Rialia's ribcage. Its skin was molted grey, scaly, and it's think body contrasted to its huge head that bobbed back and forth on a long, twisted neck. It had a long, thin tail with a huge sickle-like claw attached. Essentially, it was just like Zaberial in monster form, only with more arms and legs and a pair of black bat wings extending out from its back. With a snarl it threw Rialia across the room and lunged at Lili, who – somehow – managed to psi-blast it. With a hiss it drew back into the shadows.

Lili rushed over to her half-sister. "Ri, come on, say something…"

"Vodka les gi(4)?" Rialia muttered uncomprehendingly.

The creature then prepared itself to jump at Lili, but Sasha set it on fire. It howled once; a sound that could have frozen fire, then jumped out of the dome and flew away. Sasha rushed over to Rialia's side, saying simply, "Non… no… ni… Ri, please, hold on."

It was useless. Her body from the ribcage down was a mess of blood. Her brown eyes were struggling to stay open as she weakly lifted her hands. The right rested on Lili's head. The left was placed firmly on Sasha's chest, right above his heart.

"I love you… Other people do, too." she said simply. She clearly wanted to say more, but she began choking on her own blood. Rialia was in no pain. She could not feel anything anymore. Sasha was crying. Lili was shaking uncontrollably. They wanted to find some last words, something to say to their dearest friend who was like family. But they were tongue-tied in horror. Lili was kneeling in blood, as was Sasha. Sasha tenderly wrapped an arm around Rialia, holding her delicately. _It must have smelled the blood on her hand,_ he thought despairingly, _if only I had told her to go back, this wouldn't have happened._ Lili couldn't think. She couldn't cry. All she could do was stare in horror as Rialia breathed her last breath, and died.

------------------------

It was almost midnight by the time Sasha and Lili reached the camp. Sasha was holding Lili in his arms, because she was in too much shock to move. He was still crying, and he didn't seem to care at all that he never showed that much emotion in public. Every step he took was slow, almost like trance walking. Milla caught sight of them, covered in blood and she flew – literally – over to them.

"Darlings! What – LILI! – Oh Sasha baby, tell me what happened! Where's Rialia? Are you hurt?" Milla was in a frenzy of worry.

Sasha pointed numbly to the shadow of Thorney Towers. "Ri. There. Dead. Buried her in her favorite place in the asylum. Lili's in shock. I need sleep. She needs sleep."

Milla stared him, then whispered, "Oh dear God."

---------------------------------------

After Lili and Sasha had both showered and changed, Lili opted to sleep in Sasha's lab. Sasha couldn't sleep, even when he drained a bottle of sleeping medicine. So Milla guided him into the cafeteria, where Chef Ford gave him a burger. Milla carefully rubbed his shoulders, trying to get that horrible, pained expression off of his face. He just nibbled at his food weakly.

"It was all my fault," he said suddenly. "If I had just told Ri to go home, she wouldn't be… she wouldn't be… This is my total error as a commander and an Agent. What was I thinking? I deserve to die."

Milla just sniffled and got up. "Darling, I don't know what to say. _I_ certainly don't think it's your fault. I have to go call Morry, he's handled these things before. But remember, Ri wasn't the only one who cared about you. Don't kill yourself or anything."

Lili crept quietly in from the side door and jumped up to the rafters, hoping to catch the grown-ups conversation. She wanted a memorial and a parade in Rialia's name, if nothing else. And she wanted to see if Sasha was okay. And how Milla was taking it. Lili couldn't sleep, because she kept seeing pools of blood when she closed her eyes.

When Milla came back, she said something to Sasha in broken German – maybe because he was too shaken up to listen to English – and he jumped up, slamming a fist on the table.

"This is all Lili's fault! If she hadn't illegally switched Rialia over to the American Branch, Ri would still be in Russia and alive and there wouldn't be night-demons flying around our facilities! _I hate Lili!_" Sasha screamed in a moment of absolute agony. He didn't mean a word of that, of course. But when someone is in pain, they'll say anything to relieve it.

Lili had no way of knowing as she sat there, numb, until Milla wrapped an arm around Sasha and they left together. Then she ran back to Sasha's lab, curled up under her makeshift bed, and started to cry.

--------------------------------

End of Flashback/Memory

------------------------------------

Raz had always wondered if it was possible to vomit in the Mental World. At that moment, he found out he could. Feeling rather numb himself, he put the memory back behind its door and turned to try and find the next one. A strange sense of pride was developing in him. Lili was strong. Stronger than he'd ever realized. Together, they could win this, couldn't they? The mental image of Lili kneeling over Rialia's dying body played through his head. God, how did Lili get up every morning? How did she sleep at night?

For the rest of the memories, he didn't look at them. Raz didn't think his heart could handle it. Except for the last one: 'Sasha's Theory' it was titled.

They say curiosity killed the psychic.

----------------------------------

Begin Flashback/Memory

----------------------------------------

"This isn't good, Miss Zanotto," Sasha said with a frown. "Transferring all your negative psychic energy to someone who is already insane will ensure that the creatures hide themselves out of fear, true, but there is no telling if that will make other psychics go insane who venture into Gloria's mind."

"Please," Lili said, rolling her eyes. She looked about eight. "If anybody went into her mind for that long, he'd have to be smart enough to close the door behind him. This isn't rocket science!"

"You are basing your assumption on the idea that the one in million circumstances needed for something to go wrong is impossible. In our line of work, possible does not exist." Sasha sighed. "Never have I met anyone so stubborn on this subject."

"My mind is fine," Lili insisted, rolling her eyes. "Trust me, okay?"

Sasha gave her a look that implied he didn't trust her very much. So he just went back to his Brain Tumbler simulations, looking grim. "Miss Zanotto, this goes both ways. Either the poor soul will go mad, or you will be sent into shock. There are so many things that could go horribly wrong, and all it would take is one little slip up by some idiot…" Sasha paused, then placed a hand awkwardly on Lili's shoulder. "I know you're angry at me still. You should be. But don't let that cloud your judgment."

"Look, I took care of it, ok?" Lili snapped at him, then strolled off.

Sasha couldn't see that as walked, she was shaking and blushing – Lying, in other words.

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End Flashback/Memory

------------------------------------

End chap.

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Wow, that was a weird chapter.

(1) Literally 'Rialia's Final Hour'.

(2) 'My brother'.

(3) I'm fine.

(4) Where's the vodka?

Hehe, this was fun to write on so many levels!

Review, my Review Goons! I love you all, for ye smell like lobsters!


	7. Half a chappie

----------------------------------

Raz's panic wasn't aided by the little nightmare who now followed him everywhere. It was a little red-purple dude who had green eyes. Squeaking frantically, it stayed barely a foot behind him at all times. Raz collapsed, face first, onto the cold black ground. His mind was starting to really consider a possibility his heart couldn't take: Maybe he _had_ driven Lili insane. Maybe this was his fault, for leaving that dammed door open when Lili had gone through so much pain trying to seal it.

At a loss for what to do, he simply lay there, immobile, unable to think. Glancing at the little nightmare who was now tugging frantically at his glove, he decided to follow the little guy. It seemed important somehow in his brain, even though he knew that he couldn't be thinking straight to follow a nightmare into the depths of his girlfriend's mind. It backed up his 'I-have-gone-mad' theory, he thought dryly. Trudging after the nightmare, who moved slowly, he was barely conscious of what doors he was being led through. Did it matter? Either he or Lili had gone totally mad. He kept thinking of the scissors with blood on them, the creatures, the nightmare village. The more he did, the more and more he realized: he had to be totally insane. So lost in his thoughts was Raz that he nearly stepped on the nightmare, who had stopped.

They had stopped in a pure blue void of some kind, with floating brown platforms leading to an object in the distance that Raz couldn't quite see. Glancing down at the nightmare, it hugged him once before slithering off to be on it's merry way. With a sigh he examined his surroundings. Not much to do but try and climb to whatever was so important that the nightmare had led him here. But it wasn't easy work. The figment level in here was so high, he could barely see where he was going. Small censors leapt out at him from nowhere. It was a long struggle that made him lose a lot of his health until he managed to go invisible and make a break for it.

To say he landed on the final, pure orange platform would've been a lie. To say he fell flat on his face with a small whoop of joy was the truth. Pulling himself up, he was grateful that the censors here were too small to follow him from platform to platform. Raz turned his attention to the pulsing orange thing upon which he now stood. It felt almost as weird to stand on a floor that pulsed as it did to stand on a cloud. Every few seconds the floor would heat up, go icy, heat up, and go icy. The only thing in this area, besides a cleverly arranged wall of figments around the platform, was a small memory vault that totally motionless. It was faint orange in color, and shook a little when he got near it. Cautiously, Raz reached out a finger and poked it.

It sprang to life, hurled its contents at him, and then threw itself over the edge of the platform into nothingness. Startled, Raz glanced down at the reel he now held in his hands. It was relatively short, which was good, but the title made his blood run colder than the floor he was standing on.

It said 'Raz's attack'.

Scared, he just stood there for a long time, unable to run back for fear of censors and unable to look at the memory in his hands for fear of what it contained. Raz knew he'd have to look at it, because he needed to know if he'd really… driven his girlfriend insane. At the same time, there was no way he could bring himself to look at it. There was a war of emotions in him that he couldn't calm. Finally, he took a deep breath, and held it to his eyes.

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Start Flashback/Memory

-------------------------------------

Raz knocked on Lili's door with a bouquet of her favorite flowers – they were star shaped, purple, and called Morning Glory – in hand. There were faint orange flecks in his eyes, but other that he seemed perfectly normal as he hid the small box of white chocolate – Lili's favorite – behind his back.

Lili answered the door dressed in the same outfit she had gone insane in. Except now, her hair was up in four poofy little buns. Even insane, Raz had to raise an eyebrow. She just told him she was considering alternatives to her ponytails. Nodding faintly, Raz followed her inside the Zanotto mansion, which was so richly decorated and so flashy that he stopped dead.

"Ignore my dad's obsessive compulsive complex," Lili sighed, leading him up the massive, purple-carpeted staircase. "My room's up here."

But the place was so weird he had to stare. Portraits of Lili's extended family decorated the walls constantly – apparently Italians either had big families or else hers was special – and there were multiple objects from different countries mounted on the walls between the portraits. A samurai sword, a Russian sword that was curved and spiky, a Chinese scroll, a French royal beret with small jewels on it, and countless other things that probably cost more than Raz's family made in a year solid.

Raz's eyes glowed orange as he suddenly grabbed Lili's head with both hands. She started to scream, but his hands flashed orange for a moment, and she was totally still. He dragged her to a closet, then closed the door behind them. Taking out a black psycho portal, he placed it gently upon her head before entering…

When he was finished, he exited her mind quietly, grabbed the portal, and turned invisible as he flew silently and without a levitation ball, towards his distant circus. The chocolates and flowers had been left in her arms, where she would discover them once she woke up.

Once Raz got to the circus, his eyes returned to normal and he looked around the camel pen. "Huh? I thought I was over by the elephants… must be daydreaming, I guess."

----------------------------

End of Flashback/Memory

-------------------------------

Raz dropped the reel in absolute horror and denial. _No, I didn't… I would never… But then why can't I remember where I was before I was by the camels?_ He started to shake. This couldn't be happening, he thought for the millionth time. But as always, it was. He wondered if it was possible to be sick in the Mental World. It felt like he was about to find out.

Then someone tapped him on the shoulder. Someone with orange eyes and a soft expression.

Zaberial.

With a cry of rage Raz launched himself at the inhuman boy and smacked him across the face. Zaberial blinked and started to say something, but Raz smacked him again furiously. Raz tried punching him and kicking him, but there was no effect. Finally drained of whatever energy or determination he had left, Raz just collapsed on the ground for what seemed like the billionth time in this mind, and screamed. Zaberial poked Raz with his shoe to see if the former-Psychonaut was about to attack him, then sniffled. Looking up, Raz saw that Zaberial was crying.

"I'm sorry for what my dad made you do," he murmured, stroking Raz's head. "I tried to keep him out of Lili's mind, so I didn't think to keep him out of yours. And now you think you're insane and Lili's dying and… I wanna help. I think I might have a plan, Raz. But I think you should know… You might have to do some heavy lying."

"Zabe – can I call you that?" Raz started. When he received a nod, Raz continued, "What the hell is going on here? Who are you? Why did you call Lili 'mom'? And how do you think I'm supposed to get Lili sane when there's so much work to do and I can't leave her mind?"

Zaberial sighed and pulled Raz to his feet. "Lili is technically my mother because I am part of her deepest fears given material form. My dad is, well, my dad, because he was the first creature to form in Lili's mind and he created me so he wouldn't be alone, you see?"

"O…kay… That's a little weird," Raz said slowly.

"You _could_ theoretically leave Lili's mind, because I could modify my astral projection to look like yours. The psycho portal wouldn't know any better, so it wouldn't give off a signal." He grinned. "And I put most of my Mom's doors back in order, so she can think now. After all, I live here most of the time, so I kinda know what order they used to be in."

"If I left Lili's mind, what would I have to do?" Raz asked nervously.

"You would have to kill my father."

----------------------------------------------------

Wow. This came out of nowhere. Well, review and tell me if you liked this weird chappie…

I'm sorry it's so short. Really!


	8. The End is Here!

----------------------------------------------------------

Zabe explained his plan to Raz in the overly-clichéd whispery voice.

"… and then, if all goes well, you and Lili will be perfectly sane."

Raz let out a war whoop and hugged Zaberial. "Man, you rule!"

Zaberial blushed and rolled his eyes. "Hug later, please. My mom's sanity is on the line here."

With a smile, Raz nodded and went off to start the plan….

------------------------------------------------------

The catwalks were extra creepy at this time of night, when some of the spotlights had been shut down and there were hundreds of places for someone or something to hide. Nonetheless, Raz maintained a cool head as he walked through the maze-like area above the stage. Whistling, he waited by the hot air balloon and kicked his feet. He was just about to give up and go tell Zaberial the plan didn't work when he heard it. All too familiar suffocated breathing. And he heard a clank of claws upon metal. Turning, he saw the monstrous form of Zaberial's dad atop a spot light, blinking curiously and licking his fangs. _Man, I'd hate to be Zabe if he got a bad report card._ The sight of the monster glaring down upon him with his evil eyes was almost too much to bear. But when Lili's sanity hung in the balance, Raz had found he could face any terror for her.

Swallowing, Raz held up a hand and said firmly, "Hey pal, I'm just here to tell you you better tell Zabe you're sorry for hitting him… Before it's too late."

The creature jumped down and transformed himself into a very tall, thin human with pale skin, dark orange eyes, and long black hair pulled into a ponytail. He had sharp features, and the same long hands and Zabe. Suddenly, he looked very afraid. Glaring forgotten, he asked, "What do you mean! What's happened to my baby!"

"Zaberial says it's because of Lili's mind collapsing. He says he has a few hours… before, you know," Raz ran a finger along his own throat and made a 'kkh' noise. Pretending to get teary, he said, "Well, Zaberial wants to see you one last time, you know? He says even though you hate him he still loves you."

"Oh my god…" Zabe's father started to sniffle. "I'm such a bad father. And now… and now…. oh my god! Razputin, take me to him, I beg of you!"

Raz nodded and lead him semi-silently through the catwalks. By semi-silently I mean Zaberial's father was having a total breakdown and kept telling Raz everything Raz really didn't wanna know about Zaberial's early childhood.

"I used to read to him all the time," he choked out. "Zabe was always so smart. He gets it from his mom, you know. He used to pick up every book and memory and make me read them to him. And he always used to hug me every night and every morning, too."

Interested in spite of the severity of the situation, Raz asked, "Then what happened?"

If Zaberial's dad had been sad-looking before, he positively dripped regret now as he whispered, "Then Zabe told me he was gay… And I… I… I beat him up, Raz! I hate myself for that now. It just seemed so disgusting at the time. But if Zabe makes it through this, I'll never hit him or even swear at him ever again. And I'll let him date. I'm such a bastard!"

Raz sighed. Man, Zaberial's whole family had so many issues. _No wonder Zabe was so sneaky about following me around,_ Raz thought. _He was probably scared his dad was gonna see and hit him again. Poor guy. My dad's a little weird, but he never hit me. I wonder who Zabe would even date? A figment or a muse or something? That probably makes for interesting choices… I wonder where he'd go on a date? The theater in Gloria's mind? Milla's dance party? I wonder if he can even go there…_

Leading the sniffling father to where his son lay, stretched out and weak upon the ground of Lili's mind, Raz sighed. Man, he never knew Zabe had it so rough. It must be hard to be a kid in the Mental World. With a cry of agony, his father ran to him and scooped the boy up in his arms. Zabe smiled weakly, and his dad cradled him. Softly, the father began to sing something in Russian that Raz recognized as 'Rock a-bye baby'. Then the two began to talk in hushed voices. Finally, Zaberial smiled and winked at Raz. Zabe's father stood up, gently laid his son down on the ground, and walked over to Raz with an apologetic look on his face.

"I-I never meant to drive Lili insane, Razputin. Believe me, if there was any way I could go back and change things, I would." He sniffled. "But there isn't. So now, you have to kill me. Otherwise Lili and my son will both die." He started to cry. "And just when we had worked things out, too…"

Feeling about ready to cry himself, Raz prepared to do the what he was sure was the most horrible thing on Earth. Only a few things could kill members of Zaberial's species: Dream Fluff explosions, weirdly, were among them. And Lili happened to have one Dream Fluff in her mind at all times for emergency use. This _definitely_ was an emergency. But still… Raz took a deep breath as he set the Fluff on fire next to Zaberial's dad, who was just crying and staring at the ground. God, this shouldn't have been so damm hard.

_**BOOM!**_

There was an explosion the likes of which hopefully won't be seen ever again. The two mind's links were blown apart. Memory vaults belonging to Lili flew out of Gloria's mind, landing very soundly behind the appropriate doors. The nightmares were sucked as though in a vacuum into their Village, screaming and snarling. The doors shuffled to arrange themselves in neat rows. The connection to the catwalks cracked and flashed with blue lightning before fading out of sight. Black smoke puffed out from around the huge crater now created by the Fluff. The sky turned blue with dark burnt orange streaks. The sound of weird, three-headed birds chirping could be heard as bright black trees sprung up from the ground. The ground, by the way, grew spongy and dark purple.

Zaberial came up behind Raz, crying silently. Raz hugged him in an attempt to make him feel better, but in a situation like that there was nothing that could be done. Zaberial had lost his father, the only real parent he ever had. Raz couldn't imagine what losing his dad would be like. Crappy and sadder than hell were some of the terms that came to mind. So Raz just sort of stood there, one arm now around his friend's shoulders, trying to think of something to say.

"I can't believe he's gone…" Zaberial said softly, in a hollow voice that didn't suite him at all. His eyes had changed color to a hazy grey that made him look possessed. "I just can't believe it… You know, he really loved me. He told me so. I never knew…"

Raz just patted Zaberial's back, tongue-tied. "At least he got a chance to tell you."

"Y-yeah…" Zabe started to walk away. "Well, I should probably go back to my door or something, I guess." He looked so sad, like he could care less if he went to his door ever again.

Then, suddenly, from inside the crater. "ZABERIAL!"

Zaberial's eyes got wide as he practically flew over to the crater, hope in his eyes. Raz followed, his jaw dropping. Unbelievable! Zabe's dad was alive and well. Well, alive at least. He smiled at his son, who jumped down and tackled him, crying hysterically into his shoulder. Raz wiped away a tear, embarrassed but kind of touched at the family reunion.

What a great ending….

--------------------------------------------

When Raz exited Lili's mind, he awoke with a start in his own body. Usually there was period of time in which he was slightly disoriented, but not now. Now, he had one crisp, coherent thought in mind: **_Lili!_**

Jumping up, he gently began to shake her. "Lili, come on, wake up! I'm here, everything's okay-" Suddenly her eyes shot open and she blinked several times before smiling weakly.

"Hey, stupid."

"LILI!" Raz yelled, hugging her. "Oh man, I was so worried! Without you, I don't know what I'd do! It's like that really lame Hallmark card I got you for Valentine's day said: Without you, I'm incomplete! But that card didn't say that along with being incomplete I'm scared, and emotional, and totally alone, and-"

Lili just smiled and kissed him full on the lips. "I always knew you'd save me. Sheesh, what took so long?"

Raz smiled. It was so good to have Lili back, safe and sound. And happy, too. He'd missed her cynical comments, her funky fashion sense, the way she glared at him, even the way she called him stupid occasionally. It was so great to be able to see her, to know she was alive and sane and still totally Lili. With a grin so big he was sure he looked insane himself, he kissed her. God, he loved her.

And she loved him.

------------------------------------------------

(Two days later)

"So darling, let me get this straight," Milla said, staring from Lili to Zaberial to his father. "Zaberial is your son, sweetie, who somehow got out of your mind and into the real world? And Raz didn't drive you insane, Artra did?" (Zaberial's dad flinched at his name coming up. Artra was a girl's name in their species.) "And Artra planted items in Raz's brain on accident? Then Artra and Raz both helped you return to sanity, and now Zaberial wants to be a Psycadet and Artra wants to help me with my nightmare studies?"

When Lili nodded, she sighed and shared a look with Sasha, who said, "Well, that can be easily arranged. However, I would like know how Thorney Towers managed to appear when it was destroyed two years ago."

Artra turned to Lili, who shrugged. "I didn't do it. I thought you did."

"No," Artra shuddered. "I never like that place to begin with. Zaberial, did you-?"

His son shook his head. "I was born _after_ the place was wrecked, remember? I hadn't even heard about 'til we were living there all of a sudden."

"Hey," Raz chimed, wrapping an arm around Lili. "Who cares? It's not like it's doing any damage to anyone. Let sleeping dogs lie, right Sasha?"

Sasha sighed but smiled. "Yes, let's just forget about it. I've had enough excitement for one mission. Now, as an apology for my accusations, Razputin, how about I drop you and Miss Zanotto off at your place? It's been quite a while since you've gone on a date, which logically isn't very good for your relationship."

Lili smiled and leaned her head on Raz's shoulder affectionately. "Yeah, that'd be cool."

Raz smiled back and thought about how close he'd come to losing her. It really scared him sometimes to think that she had actually _gone insane_. But she was here now, safe and sound and cynical. Never to enter the dingy halls of Thorney Towers ever again. Never to have to fight off her nightmares alone, because now Zaberial and Artra and Sasha and Milla and most importantly Raz were all on her side to help her. No matter what, Raz decided, this was a positive thing. He'd always known he loved Lili. Now, he knew he loved her more than anything in the world and she knew it, too.

With a goofy grin, he kissed her on the cheek and held her close. Zaberial giggled softly, earning a smirk from his dad, who leaned over and whispered, "Someday you'll have a boyfriend like that, huh?" Zaberial turned pale and blushed at the same time, much to the bemusement of Sasha. So Milla winked at Sasha and made him go pale and blush too. Love was in the air. The group had escaped yet another awful, insane life-or-death situation unharmed. Lili was back to normal, Raz was now sure he wasn't insane, Zaberial's dad had finally gotten over his homophobia, and Zaberial wasn't living in Lili's weird, overly complex mind anymore. All was calm, all was bright, all was happy.

Not a bad ending considering all the crap they had to go through to get there.

If only such things lasted forever…

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Well, that's it! Don't worry, people, a sequel is in the making as we speak!

So, tell me what you think. (I somehow had flicked on the nasty thing so anon. people couldn't review, but now they can. God I'm dumb.)

Peace out mah hippies!


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